Accurate Project Time Tracking?

Uhh-I-think-I'll-stay-anonymous-this-once asks: "I'm really rubbish at tracking the time I spend on things. That's bad for me, because I bill clients by the hour and almost always have to under-bill. I've tried a few bits of software for tracking, but none of them have suited me. What do you use? And why do you like it? If you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I can't give a spec of what I want, but I can describe my habits and hardware. I use several computers, sometimes I don't use my own. I've got a short attention span when I'm not programming, and hop from task to task like an insane jack-rabbit. I'm not always on my network. I've got a couple of servers that could be used to run a web-based system. Mining my e-mail is often a good way of finding out what I've been working on. I'm rubbish at adhering to routines. I like OSS, but it's not an absolute-must-have. I'm comfortable with both Linux and Windows, but spend most my client life in Windows."

Comments

uhm, a stopwatch?

[Anonymous Coward]

I use basecamp for my project management. It has a simple and fast time entry feature with CSV export.

On the corner of my desktop I have a little stopwatch program called Watch It (actually I'm still using v0.5, I just realized). Nothing particular special about it, you could probably find a different one that you like.

When I start some work, I start the stopwatch, and when I stop working? RIGHT, YOU GUESSED IT! :-)

Sure, I often forget, and have to check my shell history or whatever to come up with an estimate (I'm a unix consultant) but over the years I've gotten good at remembering.

I enter the time into the appropriate project and task in Basecamp, and then each month I use a Perl script to download the CSV from Basecamp and import into my ancient (as in, pre-web!) time tracking app and take it from there.

If I'm not near a web browser, I just scribble the time in a special green sheet (green == MONEY) in my hipster PDA and then enter it in basecamp later (don't do this often though, best thing is to enter the time ASAP or it becomes a chore).

You could probably use a spreadsheet or something instead of basecamp or a dedicated time-tracking app (but I really recommend basecamp, it's super-simple and responsive via Ajax goodness). Or you could use a real physical stopwatch instead of a computer program. Etc.

Outlook Journal

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Before I get started, let me say that I use mailx more than I use Outlook.

There's one feature of Outlook, though, that I used to use: the Journal. If you're in Microsoft Office, it automatically tracks the time every document opens and closes in a little timeline. If you're not in Office and you remember to use the feature, you can add arbitrary items to the Journal much like you would add address book entries. It's a great way of watching how much time you spend on documents.

Where do you track appointments?

[jhoffoss]

I'm a consultant at a CPA firm, therfore, billable hours rule all. I (like many posting here) am a terrible procrastinator (evidenced by my visit to Slashdot...) I've struggled with the same problem, and a lot of people are posting one of a few solutions: use a new piece of software; use a piece of paper; use a timer.

The timer thing is not a bad idea, but it still has to be recorded somewhere, so it's not necessarily a good answer if you can't just say "eight hours billed between four clients, 2 hrs/client".

Paper can work great. I used a notebook and followed a methodology more or less laid out in a software engineering textbook that I took at Uni. Essentially, list out tasks and assign some identifier (i.e., as a penetration tester & computer forensics consultant, I have a code for Googling/researching/footprinting my client, and a separate one for port scanning, etc.) A few pages farther back, I have a listing of client/project identifiers. A few pages behind that, I have a slot to tally project/time expenditures and begin to get a feel for time spent on each client/type of task. A few pages behind that, I record start time, end time, a column to indicate breaks (i.e. 5, 10 mins for coffee or something), a delta, client number/indicator, task number/indicator, a description, and a checkbox to see if I've aggragated that item, recorded it in my billing system, etc.

I omitted the breaks/delta columns because every break tended to be a different client or project; coffee breaks waited until some other distraction broke me away from what I was doing. This worked fairly well, and eliminated having to mess with another software interface. Of course, the system I use dictates this time be entered manually, so a CSV export or something akin to it doesn't really help.

Now though, I track my time where I track my appointments, vacation, etc. by creating appointments for each client or job I work on. It's a little more time consuming to enter, but my PDA supports this time tracking method inherently, and I can use the Categories listings to indicate the client, I can summarize my work in the subject, I can track the task type in the location, and I can include notes or comments (say, if it's a phone call) all in the same spot. When I have to enter my time, I can just open my calendar and go back a few days. I can also (as someone else mentioned) use the Journal function in Outlook to augment this.

For me and my work habits, this seems to work out well, plus it's a little comforting when I have a good day and it's a solid block of blue (the label color I use for billable work).